Investigating goal conflicts in menu planning in Swedish school catering on the pathway to sustainable development

The 260 million publicly funded school meals served annually in Sweden generate 21.000 tons of food waste. At national level, school meals should meet the goal of food waste reduction, together with various other goals such as meeting nutritional requirements, being environmentally friendly and, most importantly, achieving high acceptance among schoolchildren. There is a preconception among kitchen staff that the most popular school meals drive food waste in Swedish school catering and that vegetarian dishes increase food waste, despite being less popular than meat options. By applying mixed methods, this study investigated possible goal conflicts between reduced food waste, high acceptance, and vegetarian options on the lunch menu. An overall aim was to gain knowledge on how lunch menus could be adapted for increased sustainability. Kitchen staff from 10 Swedish primary and secondary schools were interviewed to identify the most popular and unpopular meals, and food waste quantification data and lunch menus from 61 school canteens were analyzed. The results showed that, while the common perception of popular and vegetarian meals creating most waste was held by kitchen staff, it proved to be untrue. In fact, popular school meals and vegetarian options generated less waste than unpopular meals. A vegetarian paradox was detected in interviews, with vegetarian options considered unpopular but with several vegetarian options among the most popular dishes. Thus, school-catering units should stop serving unpopular meals and shift their focus to serving popular nutritious meals, including popular plant-based options, as part of efforts to make school meal schemes more sustainable

Sustainability assessment of surplus food donation: A transfer system generating environmental, economic, and social values

Retailers' food waste, often consisting of edible food, could be reduced, while simultaneously tackling food insecurity, through surplus food donations to vulnerable groups. However, sustainability assessments of food donations covering all three sustainability perspectives are scarce, hampering decision-makers in prioritizing donation as a food waste management measure. This Swedish case study assessed the environmental, economic, and social aspects of surplus food donation and examined trade-offs between the different sustainability perspectives. Methods included life cycle assessment, net economic benefit calculation, social life cycle assessment based on food security questionnaires, and nutritional assessments. The results showed that food donation was a way to reduce food waste benefitting the environment and adding economic and social value, to vulnerable people in particular. Despite substantial rebound effects offsetting some potential environmental savings, food bag donations outcompeted anaerobic digestion as a food waste management option in terms of environmental mitigation effect. Regarding trade-offs, accrued savings causing the rebound effects generated important social value for the donation recipients, by relieving their personal finances. Private and public investment was required to fund the donation units, but positive economic value was generated through valorization of surplus food. Food bag donations also showed potential to alleviate recipients' food insecurity and to contribute positively to recipients' nutrition intake. To realize the potential of surplus food donation, policy measures should be better aligned with the waste hierarchy. Despite some trade-offs and inability to solve the underlying problems of food insecurity, food donations have great short-term potential to contribute to a more sustainable society

Recirkulering av överskottsmat - till vilken nytta?

Inledningen av 2020-talet har fört med sig många utmaningar för samhället, något som har bidragit till en påfrestande ekonomi för många. Under 2020 levde närmare 7% av Sveriges befolkning i ekonomisk utsatthet, vilket innebär att det inte alltid finns möjlighet att tillgodose grundläggande behov såsom en tillräcklig tillgång till mat. Samtidigt uppkommer varje år över 1 miljon ton livsmedelsavfall i Sverige som oftast förbränns, komposteras eller rötas till biogas. Redistribution av sådan överskottsmat som av olika anledningar inte går att sälja men som fortfarande är ätbar har potential att skapa betydligt större nytta än vanlig avfallshantering, men frågan är vilken sorts nytta och hur mycket nytta.Denna rapport är en sammanställning av resultaten från projektet Recirkulering av överskottsmat – till vilken nytta? där syftet var att undersöka hur stor miljömässig nytta donationer av överskottsmat ger jämfört med att maten rötas till biogas. Projektet har även undersökt vilka sociala och ekonomiska effekter donationer av överskottsmat kan medföra. Resultaten, som är baserade på en fallstudie genomförd hos välgörenhetsorganisationen Uppsala Stadsmission, visade att redistribution av överskottsmat genom donationer är mer fördelaktigt för miljö och klimat än alternativet att maten går till att producera biogas. Mest fördelaktigt var att donera maten via matkassar, vilket resulterade i en minskad klimatpåverkan motsvarande -0,42 kg CO2e per kg överskottsmat. Motsvarande siffror för de övriga två scenarierna, att maten doneras via soppkök och att den går till rötning, var -0,27 respektive -0,22 kg CO2e. Även om matdonationer ger stor miljönytta så minskas den betydligt av rekyleffekten som uppstår när mottagare får pengar över som används för annan konsumtion. Dock så kan detta ökade ekonomiska utrymme och konsumtion ses som en av de viktigaste sociala nyttorna för mottagarna av matdonationer.Vidare visade resultaten att donationer av överskottsmat kan bidra med både ekonomiska och sociala fördelar för de involverade aktörerna. Maten som doneras hade en god sammansättning av näringsämnen och därmed potential att bidra till ett förbättrat intag hos mottagarna. Dock så visade projektet att matdonationer visserligen skapade stor nytta för de som mottog den donerade maten, men det var inte tillräckligt för att helt förändra mottagarnas utsatta situation

The Swedish School Meal as a Public Meal : Collective Thinking, Actions and Meal Patterns

The aim of this thesis is to study what role the Swedish school meal has as a public meal in Swedish culture. An additional aim is to study the meal patterns of children, including the school meal. An ethnological questionnaire with 192 informants was used to study people’s perceptions and memories of the school meal. The school meal was seen as part of the Swedish welfare state, but also as a second-class meal, which did not live up to the ideal, which was a meal with the same values as a meal served at home. Observations in school canteens (25 hours), interviews with the school meal staff (six informants) and focus group interviews with children in grade 4-5 (seven groups with a total of 52 children) were carried out at three schools in central Sweden. Firstly, the data was analysed as to how the teachers interacted with the children in relation to the pedagogic meal. The teachers took on three different roles:  “the sociable teacher role”, “the educating teacher role” and “the evasive teacher role”. Secondly, the children’s understanding of food and meals in the school meal context was analysed. The results showed that the children used ideas from the adult world among their peers in the school meal situation. This included the implementation of institutional commensality, the telling of stories about food and the classification of foods in dichotomies. A questionnaire covering the meal patterns of the children and intake of some snack foods was also distributed to the children attending grade 4-5 at the three schools and their parents. Matched pairs (n=147) were analysed for agreement. Most children had a regular meal pattern, and there was general agreement between child and parent reports, except for sweets and chocolate. The expectations on the school meal are high. At the same time, there appears to be a social construction depicting the school meal in a negative way. In order to come to terms with the negative public view of the school meal, the social construction of the school meal needs to be addressed

From quantification to reduction

Public sector food services are a major contributor to food waste generation in Sweden, with schools, preschools, elderly care homes, hospitals etc. producing approximately 70 000 ton of food waste per year. Sweden already has appropriate infrastructure for treating this waste to recycle nutrients and energy, but there is still great potential to move up in the waste hierarchy and prevent waste. A first step on the path to achieving waste reduction is to quantify the waste, in order to get useful statistics on which to base the design of waste-reducing actions. Since the municipality of Sala has already been investigated and analysed regarding the quantities of food waste it produces, this follow-up study investigated how the whole municipality can move from waste quantification to successful waste reduction. The material used comprised quantified volumes recorded by the municipal catering organisation in Sala from 2014 to 2017. These data were combined with interviews with managers and with staff in the kitchens that had achieved the greatest reduction in waste during the study period, in order to identify successful food waste reduction measures. From the results, two general tactics for waste reduction were identified; a trial and error tactic imposing the same actions on all kitchens, irrespective of their food waste volumes or potential problems, and systematic improvement of individual kitchens through actions based on their specific problems and conditions. Systematic improvement was found to be the most efficient for the individual kitchen, but since very few kitchens actually employed this tactic it had only minor effects on the whole organisation compared with the trial and error approach

From Old Habits to New Routines—A Case Study of Food Waste Generation and Reduction in Four Swedish Schools

Public food service organizations are large producers of food waste, which leads to greenhouse gas emissions and the waste of natural resources. The aim of the present article was to gain insight into reasons for food waste and possible solutions for lowering food waste in schools in Sweden. In order to do so, food waste quantification in school canteens in two Swedish municipalities and nine qualitative interviews with key actors were conducted. Both municipalities displayed a high degree of variation in food waste, but the common pattern was that serving waste constituted the largest fraction of food waste, followed by plate waste and storage waste, as well as a gradual decrease in food waste over time. Food waste was mainly a result of old, disadvantageous habits, such as overproduction due to forecasting difficulties, whereas new, better routines such as serving fewer options, better planning, and a less stressful environment are the key to lowering food waste. Because food waste varies from one case to the next, it becomes important to identify and measure the causes of food waste in each school in order to be able to establish tailor-made, conscious, and flexible food waste mitigation routines

Donera överskottsmat för att minska matsvinnet och skapa sociala värden

Mat som inte kan säljas kastas i stora mängder inom dagligvaruhandeln vilket innebär ett ineff ektivt utnyttjande av resurser och påfrestningar på miljön. Samtidigt finns det människor som lever under utsatta förhållanden och som saknar en säker tillgång till mat, även i ett välfärdsland som Sverige. Genom att donera överskottsmat från livsmedelsbutiker till välgörenhetsorganisationer och vidare till behövande människor kan matsvinnet minska och sociala värden skapas

The contribution of school meals to energy and nutrient intake of Swedish children in relation to dietary guidelines

Background: In Sweden, school meals are served free of charge and Swedish law states that school meals must be nutritious. Nevertheless, data on children's energy and nutrient intake from school meals are scarce. Objective: The aim was to describe the contribution of school meals to Swedish children's nutrient and energy intake during weekdays and compare this to the reference values based on the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR), which have been adopted as the official Swedish recommendations. Design: A cross-sectional food consumption survey was performed on 1,840 Swedish children attending Grade 2 (mean age 8.6) and Grade 5 (mean age 11.7). The children's nutrient and energy intake was compared to the reference values based on the NNR. Results: The mean intake from school meals of energy, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and vitamins D and E did not reach the reference values and the intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and sodium exceeded the reference values in both age groups (significant differences, all p <= 0.001). Additionally, the pupils in Grade 5 did not reach the reference values for folate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, and zinc (significant differences, all p <= 0.001). Standardized for energy, dietary fiber, PUFA, and vitamins D and E did not reach the reference values, whereas the reference values for SFA and sodium were exceeded in both age groups (significant differences, all p <= 0.001). Conclusions: The study pointed to some central nutrients in need of improvement as regards school meals in Sweden, namely the quality of fat, dietary fiber, sodium, vitamin D, and iron. Some of these results may be attributed to the children not reporting eating the recommended number of calories, the children omitting some components of the meal, or underreporting, as a consequence of which the reference values for several nutrients were not met

Quantities and quantification methodologies of food waste in Swedish hospitals

To move towards a sustainable food system, we cannot continue to waste substantial amounts of the food produced. This is especially true for later stages in the food supply chain, where most sub-processes consume resources in vain when food is wasted. Hospitals are located at the end of the food supply chain and the sector has high levels of food waste. This study investigated food waste quantification practices in Swedish hospitals, examined whether a questionnaire is an appropriate methodology for such mapping, and compiled data for the sector in order to determine the amount of food waste and its composition. A questionnaire was sent to all 21 regional authorities, formerly known as county councils, responsible for hospitals in Sweden. The questionnaire responses were supplemented with food waste records from three regions that organize the catering in a total of 20 hospitals. The results showed that it is common practice in most hospitals to quantify food waste, with quantification focusing on lunch and dinner in relation to the number of guests served. It was also clear that waste quantification practices have been established for years, and in the majority of the hospitals studied. The data revealed that, in comparison with other sectors, food waste was still high, 111 g guest(-1) meal(-1), consisting of 42% plate waste, 36% serving waste, and 22% kitchen waste. However, there was great variation between hospitals, which, in combination with well-established, standardized waste quantification routines, meaning that this sector has strong potential to spread best practices and improve overall performance in reducing food waste generation